The present invention relates to a device for applying a product, such as, for example, a cosmetic product, for example a make-up product, and/or a care product. The product may be intended for application to a keratinous surface, which may be a surface on skin, fingernails, toenails, hair on an individual's head, eyelashes and/or eyebrows.
In the field of cosmetics and/or care products, it is desirable to find new effects. This may be especially true in the field of make-up where it often is desirable to obtain new aesthetic effects with respect to the body part that is being made up. As an example, in the field of applying mascara, it may be desirable to obtain effects that may, for example, add body, appear natural, be curve-improving, and/or be extending, or which may achieve a blend of such differing characteristics.
In some cases, the development of new applicator devices may be influenced by new make-up compositions which, due to their rheology, and other characteristics, may be difficult to apply with conventional applicators. Hence, many devices are developed with a goal toward producing new make-up effects and/or to facilitate the application of compositions having differing rheologies, for example.
By way of example, such devices may be distinguished from one another by the density and/or shape of their application elements (which may be in the form of fibers, for example), by their longitudinal and/or transverse profile, by the nature of the material of which the support and/or the application elements are composed, by the treatment to which all or part of the applicator device may be subjected, or by any other component of the overall packaging and applicator assembly of which the applicator device may be a constituent part (such as the wiper, for example).
French patent application No. 2 668 905 describes a method of obtaining a mascara brush which includes, after the brush has been twisted and sheared to the desired profile, heating the tips of the bristles to melt them. This creates small spherical bulges at the tips of the bristles resulting from the drawing together of the polymer material. After such treatment, the bristles are still substantially straight.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,554 describes a mascara brush of the twisted wire type, in which the section of the bristles varies along a longitudinal axis of the bristle. The bristles may be of an undulating shape. The result of this is that the bristles form curves having directions of concavity which alternate first in one direction and then in the other. The radius of curvature of the bristle may vary between a maximum radius and a minimum radius at each change of concavity direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,554 also describes a certain number of operations, for example, either during or after the extrusion of the bristles, that permit the desired profile to be achieved. After treatment, the bristles are laid out in the conventional way in the form of a layer which is inserted between the two wire strands obtained by of a U-shaped length of wire. The two wire strands are then twisted relative to one another to configure the bristles into an arrangement in the form of a multi-turn helix.
It has been found that, in forming conventional applicators, when deformations are produced during the process of extruding the bristles they may have, due to the extrusion process itself, a relatively large minimum curvature. When the deformations are the result of treatment after the extrusion, they may likewise have a relatively large minimum curvature, so as to facilitate handling the bristles by automated means in order to put them into the form of a layer for placing between the two strands of the U-shaped length of wire and to allow the two strands of the wire to be twisted.
It is also known to produce applicators, including, for example, mascara brushes, via molding. The mold may be designed so that the free ends of the application elements, which elements are, generally speaking, straight, terminate in a forked or hook-shaped portion. Because these end portions are formed by molding, their orientations relative to each other are predetermined. The results, from the point of view of making up, may be disappointing. Also, to achieve differing effects, it may be necessary to have a differing mold for each desired type of effect, which may increase the cost of manufacturing the device.
It also is known, in the case of mascara brushes, for example, for the free ends of the fibers to be ground and/or abraded so as to split them into multiple strands. Portions of bristles of a curved shape may result from a purely mechanical treatment of this kind. These curved portions may be, however, localized to the ends of the bristles. Also, it is difficult to bring the radius of curvature of the curved portions obtained down to below 50 mm. However, with radii of curvature of 50 mm or larger, the effects, as far as the resulting make-up is concerned, may be scarcely perceptible.
Therefore, it may be desirable to provide an applicator device, particularly for a cosmetic product, e.g. a make-up product and/or care product, which potentially solves at least one drawback of known devices.
For example, it may be desirable to provide a device for applying a cosmetic and/or care product which represents an alternative solution from the point of view of obtaining certain effects, and/or which affords the possibility of obtaining effects differing from the effects obtained with the conventional devices.
It also may be desirable to provide a device which is economical to make.
Further, it may be desirable to provide a method of producing an applicator, particularly for a care and/or cosmetic product, which is efficient and economical to produce in an industrial plant.